Anna Gilmer

I play in the orchestra at my church on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights. We have the standard “Stand Up and Greet Someone Around You” time, where all the people who came in late can sneak in and get a seat without being Judged. Our band director and piano player is an incredible musician, and outstanding arranger. He wrote a short, 1-minute interlude piece to play during that time. It started out just the rhythm section, and recently he wrote parts for every individual member of the orchestra. 

For one member of the band, the chart printed wrong. He insisted that since her part was different than any other, he would go up and redo it so that she could play along. Instead of accepting this answer, she kept insisting that she could just play what the person next to her was playing. They went back and forth for a few minutes, him trying to make her comprehend that her part was different than the others, therefore they couldn’t play the same one. But she wanted so bad to play that moment, she was willing to give up the part that was written individually for her, and play someone elses part.

How often do we do that with God? It seems all of your friend’s dreams are coming true. They are married, have children, are doing exactly what they want to do in life. And you have no clue what we want to do. Nothing is working for you. You’re working a dead end job, with no higher education, a relationship that’s going no where, and nothing seems to be working out for you.

So you settle. You pursue that relationship that won’t go anywhere. You continue to work the dead end job because you are afraid of putting yourself out there. You’re reading someone else’s sheet, while the chart God wrote for you is in the copy room, or maybe sitting on the stand in front of you. You have this beautiful life that he has written just for you. All you have to do is ask him what he wants you to play.